“I have 30 minutes in a staff meeting to look at metacognition. Do you have any advice?”

Is this last-minute professional development plea familiar? For a complex topic such as ​‘metacognition’ a thorough understanding and clear, confident professional development is essential.

Recommendation 1 of the EEF’s Metacognition and Self-regulated Learning guidance report emphasises the importance of ensuring that teachers acquire the professional understanding and skills to develop their pupils’ metacognitive knowledge. Yet, determining how best to support colleagues’ understanding of this subtle and nuanced concept can seem challenging.

Metacognition is not a ​‘hack’ or a quick fix. It is ever-present in the classroom, but unless teachers have a strong understanding of what this looks like in practice, it can remain ​‘hidden in plain sight’ (Quigley & Stringer, 2018, para. 3), resulting in missed opportunities to develop pupils’ knowledge and skills.

Professional development: A balanced approach (and enough time!)

When planning PD relating to metacognition, a common challenge centres around a lack of time. Some school leaders report having to try to shoehorn PD about metacognition into an already busy staff meeting schedule, alongside discussion of other pressing issues such as safeguarding, assessment, or curriculum developments.

However, we know that effective PD requires more than this. If it is to make a lasting change to practice, evidence included in the EEF’s Effective Professional Development guidance report tells us that adopting a balanced approach, including mechanisms which build knowledge, motivate teachers, develop teacher techniques, and embed practice, makes it more likely that PD activities lead to lasting, sustained change.

Amberly Primary School Case Study

To support school leaders to understand what this can look like, the EEF has published a case study developed by school leaders Emma Barker and Beth Shackleton from Amberley Primary School to show how school leaders used the evidence on both metacognition and effective PD to support colleagues’ understanding.

This case study provides an example of how school leaders can introduce concepts gradually, deepening understanding over time to encourage long-term changes to classroom practice. This tool provides a useful example of how school leaders can:

A) Manage cognitive load when building knowledge through carefully selecting information, approaches and examples to suit their particular school context.

B) Motivate staff by encouraging colleagues to discuss and agree upon personal goals, as well as through deliberately seeking out staff who are working to implement focus strategies, affirming these and planning in opportunities to share good practice.

C) Consider how to effectively develop teaching techniques through clear instruction and planning opportunities for practical, peer-support and feedback.

D) Ensure that new techniques are embedded into practice by encouraging self-monitoring, and providing prompts and cues which remind colleagues of their agreed goals and actions to ensure that these are not forgotten, but become part of new routines and habits.

We hope that this case study provides a starting point for PD leads who may be considering how best to develop metacognition in their own setting.